Assange Extradition Stands Looks as though Julian Assange will be on a Sweden bound plane before long, pending any appeals his legal team might file. A judge in the UK issued a 28 page ruling this week after nearly three days of testimony. Among his findings, Judge Howard Riddle said not only was it highly unlikely Sweden would turn him over to American authorities, but there existed no reason to... (1 views)
''A Bright Future?'' I've got a job waiting for my graduation Fifty thou a year - buys a lot of beer Things are going great, and they're only getting better I'm doing all right, getting good grades The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades I gotta wear shades -The Future's so Bright I Gotta Wear Shades, by Timbuk 3 (1 views)
Seattle Law Firm Escrow Agent Faces Theft Charges The Shim Law Firm in Seattle was reeling after one of their employees was charged with embezzling over $825,000 from the firm. The Seattle police department arrested Heather ''Veronica'' Pak, 41 and charged her with 114 counts of theft in relation to funds that were designated for The Shim Law Firm. Pak was employed by The Shim Law Firm from June 2008 to October 2009. (1 views)
The End of an Era - Coming Soon The blawgosphere is buzzing today with stories about Justice Stevens, after sources close to him told CNN that he will announce soon whether or not he is retiring, and that he wants to step down while President Obama is still in the White House. (1 views)
Law Firm Serves Up Notice to Hospital for Radiation Exposure The Cabell Huntington Hospital, located in West Virginia, is coming under intense scrutiny over claims that several patients had been exposed to radiation levels that were higher than normal during CT scans. (1 views)
Homeland Security Announces Temporary Protected Status to Haitians In the aftermath of the earthquake on January 12th that killed thousands of Haitians and left millions homeless, Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security Secretary, announced that Haitians who were in residing in the U.S at the time of the earthquake in Haiti will be granted an 18-month amnesty. (1 views)
Botched Ohio Execution Spurs Actions for Mandatory Training of Prison Officials In court filings, attorneys for several inmates on death row argued that if prison officials were properly trained, the botched execution of Romell Broom in Ohio on September 15, 2009 could have been prevented. (1 views)
Muslim Groups Proclaim Body Scanners Violate Islamic Law The Fiqh Council of North America, a Muslim group of Islamic scholars has proclaimed that airport body scanners are a violation of Islamic law and have issued a ''fatwa'', a religious ruling, to all Muslim travelers. The group claims that the airport body scanners would be in violation of the Islamic rules that dictate modesty. (1 views)
The Misinformation Super Highway There are three things I miss about the 80's. 1) The music 2) Judicial Nominees getting a floor vote and 3) News outlets that weren't so pressed to provide minute by minute updates and took the time to research and verify stories before going to press. (1 views)
Supreme Court Ruling Could Affect Bankruptcy Practices The Supreme Court today released its decision in MILAVETZ, GALLOP & MILAVETZ, P. A. v. UNITED STATES, viewable at http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-1119.pdf. (1 views)
Rapper Faces Music Over Weapons Charges Rapper, Lil' Wayne has been sentenced to one year in prison for charges that arose from an incident in 2007 outside of the Beacon Theater in New York City. According to police, Dwayne Carter, aka Lil Wayne, was arrested after a .40 caliber pistol was discovered on his tour bus. (1 views)
Applying ''Citizens United'' to the States In the wake of the Supreme Court's decision in the Citizens United case, overturning federal campaign finance laws that prohibited corporations from running political advertisements, a group in Montana is challenging that state's ban on corporate political advocacy. (1 views)
Obama v the U.S. Supreme Court After President Obama publicly scolded the Supreme Court in his State of the Union Address, the blogosphere went crazy for a few days arguing about decorum, tradition, and the independent judiciary. (1 views)
Funny Money and Portly Porteous Louisiana federal judge, Thomas Porteous from New Orleans has just joined the elite club of the only 13 federal judges to be removed by impeachment in U.S. history, raising the number to 14. (1 views)
Salt Lake Lawyer Violates Pre-Trial Conditions Related to Fraud Charges A Salt Lake City lawyer will stay in prison for violating terms of his pre-trial release. In July Attorney, James Hector Alcala, was indicted on charges of visa fraud and conspiracy charges. (1 views)
How Unhealthy is the Health-Care Bill? The Health-Care Bill is sure hot topic nowadays, and very touchy, so I try to tread carefully and toe the Chicago line for that is the proper thing to do, apparently. However, if the line bites my toe, a kick can be reflexive, don't blame me, it's healthy reflex, not conscious action. (1 views)
More Regulation Please How often do industry lobbyists ask the federal government for more regulation? More often than you might think. (1 views)
Recess Time! Article II Section 2 of the US Constitution reads ''The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.'' (1 views)
When Can The ''End'' Justify The ''Means?'' This is an extremely important question of law. I do not care playing partisan to any kind of politics. However, substantial questions of law concerning our civil rights cannot be ignored just because politicians are already debating them. Actually, the political debate is now over, the Health Care Bill is now law, and the judicial debate has just started, making the new... (1 views)
Man's Best Friend Abandoned to Fate! I was surprised, hurt, and concerned by the recent judgment of a three-judge Commonwealth Court Panel in Pennsylvania that ruled against making the service dog of a disabled person eligible for food stamps. (1 views)
Comcast v FCC The very fact that you're reading this tells me two things about you : 1) You're interested in the law and 2) You use the internet. Over the next 20 years, those two things are going to mesh and collide in interesting and important ways. (1 views)
It's no laughing matter... At the Supreme Court today, the Justices heard a case involving text messaging on a device provided by a government employer. The background of the case, while both interesting and salacious, isn't particularly relevant to this discussion. What's troublesome about this case is the apparent lack of tech savvy displayed by the members of the Court and the implications that... (1 views)
Better Late Than Never: 122 Years after His Death, Lawyer Joins the Allegheny County Bar! On Tuesday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court unanimously admitted George Boyer Vashon to the bar, 153 years after his application was turned down on racial grounds. (1 views)
Sunshine In an increasingly rare bipartisan fashion, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed several measures designed to bring greater transparency to the federal legal system last week. Most prominent among them were two bills that would permit cameras in federal courts. (1 views)
Advise and Consent ''The President . . . shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint…Judges of the supreme Court.'' So says Article II, Section 2 of the United States Constitution. Article II, Section 2 of my employee's handbook says that when the President of the United States nominates someone to fill a vacancy on the Court, I must talk about... (1 views)
Freedom v. Intolerance ''Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity in exclusion of all other religions may establish, with the same ease, any particular sect of Christians in exclusion of all other sects?'' - James Madison (1 views)
Sentencing Guidelines A story in from the Wall Street Journal brings us to the question of sentencing guidelines. In the 80's, Congress passed a series of mandatory sentencing guidelines for the federal court system, but a series of Supreme Court rulings in 2005 and 2007 made the guidelines optional. In recent years the number of cases where federal judges have given lighter sentences than... (1 views)
Out In The Cloud A few weeks ago, in my first post for this site, I commented on the concept of Virtual law firms. In that post I touched briefly upon some of the technologies, both old and new, that could be used, in fact, to create a practice free from the constraints of the traditional law office. (1 views)
Just how bad was 2009? We all felt the pain last year. For some of us it was declining home values and loss of equity, for others it was lost jobs or reductions in salaries, and for some it was lower profits. (1 views)
Tough Questions in Prop 8 Case Closing arguments for the Prop 8 case in California are scheduled for Wednesday, June 16, months after the last witness was called. The plaintiffs in the case are asking the court to rule that Proposition 8, which amended the California Constitution to define marriage as existing only between opposite sex couples, violates the due process clause of the US Constitution. (1 views)